Ensuring safety and reducing the carbon footprint A leading manufacturer of Aerial Work Platforms provides an update on the company’s initiatives and products

Manitou Asia showcased a range of Aerial Work Platforms (AWPs) at the Manitou Center Singapore in December 2019. ‘The Singapore Engineer’ learns more about the company’s initiatives and its products, from Mr Bernd Freudenmann, Vice President of Manitou APAC and Managing Director of Manitou Asia.

Mr Bernd Freudenmann: All our rough terrain telehandler machines have axles. Like these telehandlers, our rough Mr Bernd Freudenmann terrain AWPs typically have two axles, including an oscillating front axle. This axle is an absolute necessity for stability, eliminating the risk of toppling and enhancing safety on uneven ground. The standard for Manitou AWPs is to have oscillating axles as a core safety feature. Heavy duty axles are much more lasting, hence making the machines very robust.

BF: At Manitou Group, we tap on the latest technological advancements to design and build innovative machines that are tailored to our users’ requirements and hence to better serve the construction and industrial sectors. Every machine produced by Manitou is now a ‘connected machine’ which is commonly referred to as a ‘smart machine’. We adopt it as a standard, to allow users to fully harness the benefits offered by the Internet of Things. A connected machine can provide real-time access to machine data, remote access, remote diagnosis, and even remote troubleshooting, to realise better service levels and improved utilisation. With connectivity, users can plan their maintenance well in advance, to optimise uptime of machines. End-users, rental companies, and manufacturers can track the machine status, running hours, and the machines’ operating parameters like potential errors codes. Envisaging connectivity as a very big benefit for end-users, rental companies and dealers, we have incorporated it as a standard in our machines to support our customers’ requirements. Connectivity also enables the prompting of maintenance scheduling via the app, MyManitou. Users can send photos on site through MyManitou, or go to their Manitou dealer directly, depending on their preference.

BF: With connected machines, we can optimise the total cost of ownership of the machines by detecting any potential issues remotely and solving them quickly. It is a more proactive approach because a user will know the running hours in terms of both pricing and maintenance. For example, if a customer rents the AWP for eight hours and the machine runs overtime, the overtime fees will be charged accordingly. This would allow for a more dynamic pricing depending on the usage of the machine. By carrying out the right maintenance, the customer could also optimise the machine’s resale value. Every machine has an optimum selling point after which the costs for maintenance will increase and compromise profitability. The connectivity feature also helps in the tracking.

BF: As part of a committed CSR policy, Manitou Group launched a dedicated programme called ‘REDUCE’. We were the first manufacturer in our sector to inform users about the energy consumption of our machines, using a special calculator. Further, there is a growing trend in electrification, worldwide. The European and Japanese markets are ahead in the electrification of construction machinery. China will also play a major role in influencing the trends in electrification, in the region. In order to move away from fossil-fuel (diesel)-powered machines, we have been manufacturing electrical machines such as forklift trucks and warehousing equipment for many years. It was a natural progression for us to extend low-emission solutions to our other ranges such as AWPs. Manitou created the Oxygen label for low-emission solutions. The first fully electrical rough terrain AWP is the 200 ATJ E, a 20-metre articulated AWP which will start serial production in 2020.

BF: The Oxygen label is created for every low-emission solution. We recently launched our full range of electrical machines, with plans to launch hybrid machines in the next phase.

Conventional rough terrain machines use diesel engines. However, there is a growing trend in our industry towards electrical engines. We are analysing usage trends before orienting ourselves to a particular energy option. In countries where the trend is being driven by the government or municipal regulations, we are ready with the solution. Electrical machines might not be suitable for operation in every location. For example, in some remote locations where there is no option to charge overnight, diesel-driven machines will enable operations to run uninterrupted. On the other hand, a hybrid machine is something in-between. It is designed to give users, who are unsure about bringing the machine back in the evening for charging, the option of using diesel to charge the battery to continue operation.

BF: The first batch of our Oxygen label machines will be produced for the Australian market, with plans to expand into the Japan and Korean markets. At this point in time, Europe has gone far ahead in the direction of electrification, and can be viewed as a case study for other countries. In Asia Pacific, Australia is next in line for projects like tunnelling which is one of the applications that seem suitable for full electrical machines. Strict regulations are implemented in such projects, to ventilate the airflow of tunnels, and we believe the adoption of electrical machines will continue to grow. Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, and China are moving towards electrification, due to the push by the respective governments. Together with the growing environmental awareness, also in other countries such as Singapore, I believe that it will get relatively easier to adopt electrification.

BF: One of the challenges is to gain acceptance from potential users. Awareness of the benefits of electrical machines is still low, leading to hesitation to try them. Manitou will bring these machines to the customers for trial and testing, to build customer confidence. Our goal is for users to realise the ease and convenience of charging electrical machines, instead of relying on diesel, as more global cities are becoming more conscious about emissions and environmental impact. Currently, our machines are designed to last for a full day with overnight charging. In the future, the capacity of the batteries can be extended to last for multiple days before requiring the next charging operation. As a metropolis with wide access to electricity at most job sites, Singapore has the potential to adopt a wide range of electrical machines.

BF: As we have reached the limits in production capacity in our current factory, the new factory in Candé, France

will increase our capacity to meet the demand of AWPs in the European, US, and Asian markets. This will allow us to expand and develop our product range further, such as investing in new boom lifts. Manitou Group is currently en route to expanding its businesses in the US and Asia. In 2019, we expanded our global footprint in Asia Pacific with a new office in Japan and a new Manitou Center in Sydney. Our increased presence in Asia has enabled us to support our dealers and key accounts directly. As providing service support is of utmost importance to us, we have recently expanded our parts warehouse in Singapore to increase parts availability and enable delivery of parts to our customers across Asia Pacific within 24 hours. Our new factory will certainly support the above objectives.

One important application of Manitou machines, in the context of Singapore, is in façade inspection and maintenance, especially in light of the proposed changes to the Building Control Act, that will make façade inspections mandatory for older buildings. Main Image: FanchRonan, Manitou Asia Pte Ltd. Inset Image: Vincent Koay, Manitou Asia Pte Ltd.